Eldred Township supervisor Vice Chairman Mary Anne Clausen refused to approve the minutes of the July supervisors' meeting without some clarification Wednesday night.

She did not feel the minutes gave an adequate summary of the statements she made at the previous meeting concerning Eldred Township acquiring the Eldred Elementary School and also about the way the township hired a new part-time road-crew employee."As drafted, they seem to get lost in secondary facts," her email stated to Eldred supervisor/secretary Sharon Solt, on Wednesday afternoon. She said she'd like her three main points about the school acquisition be more clear.She also wanted the minutes to make note of the fact that at the July 2 meeting she stated that the failure of the township to send an announcement that there was a part-time road crew position available to those on the township's email list, was of special concern to her.Township solicitor Michael Kaspszyk said they could attach her email clarification to the minutes.Solt believed the minutes were an accurate summary of the July 2 meeting.Solt then read from the "Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development's Manual for Municipal Secretaries" section on the description of how a township secretary should record minutes."Minutes should accurately reflect what occurs at a meeting. Unless the governing body desires a verbatim record, oral expressions of opinions, remarks or statements should not be included on a word by word basis. A short summary of the discussion, prepared by the secretary, should be enough to give the reader an understanding of the subject of the discussion, the varying points of view expressed and the major proponents of each ..."Chairman Gretchen Gannon Petitt said she didn't see any discrepancy and a vote was taken on approving the minutes with Clausen's addition. Clausen cast the dissenting vote.Clausen said her three points are: that the cost of accepting the school would be very high based on what they know now with respect to carrying charges, especially when compared to the township's property tax revenues and they may be much higher in the likely event that they encounter additional expenses, which they are not now factoring in; that the township has no clear need or purpose for the school and the idea of renting it to cover its costs is highly speculative; and that they should propose a joint task force with Pleasant Valley School District to consider what the future of the building should be.School updatesIn other discussion concerning the acquisition of Eldred Elementary School from Pleasant Valley School District for $1:•Kaspszyk received a letter from the district's solicitor to inform Eldred that the district voted at the July 17 board meeting to approve the sale with two conditions: Eldred Township's solicitor will have an opportunity to peruse the appraisal the district received Oct. 11, 2013 and will be given a redacted copy; the school district and the township solicitors will review the reverter issue. The reverter is if Eldred Township no longer has a use for the building, it cannot sell it. The property has to revert to the district.• Engineer Jeff Lazar of Hanover Engineers said "the condition of the school is good" with some minor issues. The inspection report can be viewed at the municipal building during office hours. There will be a second inspection.• Township administrative assistant DarcyGannon is working on her master's thesis, focusing on a cost-benefit analysis on the elementary school purchase.• Resident Bill Walters asked the board if anyone has done any research yet on grants for the elementary school costs."You're going to run into costs shortly, such as the utilities. In the future, you're going to have the Mock property someday. Do you know what those expenses are going to be? I think it's time you start thinking about the costs of these properties," he said.